The International Hot Rod Association™ (IHRA) announced today a number of changes designed to improve the Summit Racing Equipment SuperSeries presented by AMSOIL World Championship program in 2015.

Among those changes, the IHRA announced that the Summit SuperSeries World Championship held at Memphis International Raceway will be contested on the eighth-mile for the first time in program history. IHRA also announced a change to the qualifying guidelines used to determine the field of participants at the Summit SuperSeries World Championship race held at the end of the year.

With more and more divisions switching to eighth-mile competition at their Summit Team Finals events, IHRA decided to make the switch to reflect that trend. Currently, seven of the nine divisions that compete in the Summit SuperSeries program run on the eighth-mile, and the IHRA wanted the World Championship to reflect the trends at the divisional level.

Also changing in 2015 will be the rules determining the final 16 participants in each class at the Summit SuperSeries World Championship race in Memphis. The winner from all Summit SuperSeries runoff races at the Summit Team Finals level will continue to advance to the championship race, while the final six spots in each class will be comprised of the best six packages from the remaining finalists. The final spot will go to a Wild Card participant from facilities outside of a division. This gives racers from all divisions who reach the finals of their Summit SuperSeries runoff race an equal opportunity to advance to the championship race.

“In 2014 we saw the largest number of participating tracks, as well as the largest number of participants, to ever compete in the Summit SuperSeries presented by AMSOIL program. And that credit goes to our ever growing family of IHRA member tracks,” said Scott Gardner, President of IHRA Motorsports. “There were over 100 tracks actively promoting this program to their weekly racers in 2014. And that is a direct result of the tracks understanding and seeing that this is best sportsman bracket program in the country and they want their racers involved in it.”

From its beginnings in 2002, the Summit SuperSeries has grown into the preeminent program for grassroots sportsman drag racing. Designed to give racers an opportunity to compete for a world championship through a multi-stage, yearlong competition, the SuperSeries has blossomed from a small, one class championship in 2002 to a three class competition in 2014 with well over 5,000 participants throughout the United States, Canada and beyond.

The Summit SuperSeries program features competition in Top ET, Mod ET and Junior Dragster. Providing the base for the program are the more than 100 IHRA member tracks in seven divisions. Drivers compete year-round at their local track for an opportunity to represent their home track at the Summit Team Finals. Once at the Team Finals level, drivers then compete against track champions from other IHRA facilities for the right to go to the World Finals and compete for a championship in their respective class.

The Summit SuperSeries World Championship consists of the best 16 racers in each category competing in a winner takes all championship race. Over $250,000 in cash and prizes is awarded to Summit SuperSeries participants, including a cash prize awarded to all qualified participant tracks.

Over the years this prestigious program has attracted racers from all over the world including the island nation of Aruba and from as far away as Alaska and Hawaii to compete for a Summit SuperSeries championship.

“Hands down, racers and track owners love this program because it truly finds the best racers from all over the country and abroad and gives them a head-to-head format to prove their worth as the best,” said Skooter Peaco, IHRA Vice President of Operations. “This is not a race for competitors who get hot and win one race. If you are not the absolute, proven best at your local track, then you don’t compete at the next levels of this program.

“At the end of the day, there is no doubt that the competitors that win the Summit SuperSeries World Championship are among the most elite racers in IHRA competition. The best will rise to the top no matter what state or country you come from and no matter what the rules package or competition distance is.”

For more information on the IHRA’s Summit SuperSeries program, visit www.ihra.com.